OK. Let’s put a stop to the idiocy that was the rumor that Gov. Markell would cut some kind of deal with the Rethugs on ‘Right to Work For Less’. It never made sense. Why? Because the bills won’t pass the General Assembly, and will not get a single D vote. Plus, the governor has little influence over the General Assembly any more. He would have zero if he made that move. ‘Multiple legislators’, Nancy? I call bullshit. Any legislator who would float that rumor should recognize that doing so makes it less likely, not more likely, that HB 50 would pass.
Yes, Monsignor Lavelle’s SB 54 is scheduled for ‘consideration’ in Wednesday’s Senate Labor & Industrial Relations Committee. Now, before you conspiracy theorists get your collective knickers in a bunch, here is the membership of that committee:
Chairman: Marshall
Members: Cloutier
Hocker
McBride
Peterson
Poore
4 D’s, 2 R’s, one of the R’s generally votes with labor. Now, do you really suppose that Jack Markell asked Marshall for a ‘solid’, and that Marshall agreed? Markell emasculated Marshall’s last minimum wage bill, and tried to privatize the Port of Wilmington over his objections. Use your heads, pipples. You’re better than this.
Only one bill on today’s Senate Agenda, but it’s a notable one. HB 56(Potter) places a moratorium on the granting of new school charters until 2018. I think the bill is more notable for what it is, rather than what it does. It is a belated legislative recognition that the charter school movement has gotten completely out of hand. Charter schools were supposed to provide alternatives for those who do not learn best in a traditional classroom format. Of course, Charter of Wilmington was founded on the premise that really smart kids shouldn’t have to go to school with kids not of their…ilk. So, from the very beginning, elitism was coin of the realm, emphasis on coin. We now have schools specializing in certain disciplines, which was never the purpose of charters. We have deep-pocketed ‘educators’ like Charles Bouvier de Flanders Copeland, and less deep-pocketed ‘educators’ who have ended up lining their own pockets at the expense of the schools they were supposed to run. And, uh, the taxpayers. In many ways, much of what passes for the charter school movement has been little more than a perversion of public education. All sanctioned by the state. And given advantages that public schools don’t have. Time to call a permanent time out. HB 56 at least provides for a temporary time out.
The House Agenda is highlighted by HB 3(Longhurst), which ‘requires that employers receiving contracts from the State shall certify in that contract that, in addition to already mandated fair business practices, the contractor shall ensure that its employees receive equal pay for equal work without regard to sex. The language permits pay differentials when they are based on a seniority system, merit system, or where pay is based on production factors.’ Seems like a good bill. However, I’m curious as to the relative lack of senate sponsorship. Maybe there’s something that I’m missing. Anybody?
HB 90(Longhurst), which ‘requires all public school employees to receive 90 minutes of training each year on suicide prevention’, is also scheduled for consideration. The bill has no fiscal note, and I wonder why. How will this bill be implemented w/o paying for trainers to, um, train?
Senate Committee highlights:
Banking Committee: SB 66(Townsend). Would ‘allow any Delaware jurisdiction with a long-term residential vacancy rate above 3%, including a county, to form a land bank, where such jurisdiction determines that a land bank would help it address the problem of vacant and abandoned real property within its jurisdiction‘. Please click on the bill and read the entire synopsis. Looks like a great piece of legislation, especially for Wilmington. Gov. Townsend, anyone?
Children, Youth & Families Committee: HB 46(Barbieri). ‘Sets forth the rights of abused, neglected and dependent youth in DSCYF Custody’. Has passed House unanimously.
Executive Committee: Nominations, including two notable ones:
Public Service Commission: Manubhai Karia
University of Delaware Board of Trustees: Chaitanya Gadde
I’d like to think that the committee would want to hear Karia’s philosophy on utility regulation, and that members would ask Gadde about opening up UD’s records to the public.
Health & Social Services Committee: This may be a first for me…a bill sponsored by Sen. Colin Bonini that I like, at least in principle. SB 38:
“allows a terminally ill patient, and his or her treating physician, to decide if they will pursue treatment with an investigational drug, biological product or device, which has successfully completed Phase One of a clinical trial. This Bill does not obligate manufacturers to provide an investigational drug, biological product or device upon the patient’s request. It also does not obligate health insurance providers to cover the expenses of, or associated with, the use of an investigational drug, biological product or device. The Bill also protects all involved parties from being held liable for any loss, damage or injury that results from the use of investigational drug, biological product or device, and prevents state interference in the implementation of this policy.”
Why not do this? What do you think?
Ladeez and gentlemen, time for the Worst Bill of the Week. While there are several strong contenders, nothing, IMHO, comes close to HB 94 (D.Short), which is in the House Health & Human Development Committee. Now, kids, let’s remember that Rethuglicans pride themselves on being the party of limited government. What defines ‘limited government’ any better than requiring that food stamp (SNAP) recipients only use SNAP to purchase government-approved food? Jeez, you’d think that we’re still stuck in the Reagan era memes of the welfare queen driving the Cadillac and lazy & shiftless (and ‘able-bodied’, forgot ‘able-bodied’) food stamp recipients eating steak every night of the week. Yo, Rethugs, I guarantee that you’ve got neighbors using SNAP now that all the jobs have disappeared. I’ll betcha that they’re at least as well-equipped as you fucking elitists are to select nutritional food that fits their budget. Better, actually. They’ve had to do it.
“Under this Act, future SNAP benefits could be used only to purchase items designated as having beneficial nutritional value.” Sometimes the only response is a hearty “Fuck you.” Which the committee will deliver Wednesday.
Other tidbits from this week’s House Committee Schedule (Memo to the General Assembly website: Please enable us to provide links to each committee notice):
Business Lapdog Committee: HB 109(B. Short), a real good right to privacy bill. The bill ‘makes it unlawful for employers, subject to certain exceptions, (i) to mandate that an employee or applicant disclose password or account information that would grant the employer access the employee or applicant’s personal social networking profile or account, or (ii) to require or request that employees or applicants log onto their respective social networking site profiles or accounts to provide the employer direct access.’
House Education Committee: Welcome back to the 1950’s. HB 52(Hudson) ‘will make the teaching of cursive writing a requirement for all public schools in Delaware’. Uh, will handwriting analysts now vet prospective teachers for those positions? Are there that many nuns still left? Only Monsignor Lavelle knows for sure.
House House Administration Committee: HB 105(Jaques) is the first leg of a Constitutional Amendment that would eliminate restrictions on absentee voting.
House Judiciary Committee: Here’s an interesting bill. HB 102(Barbieri) appears to address attempts to intimidate witnesses by making addresses public, and placing informants at risk. The bill “prohibit(s) persons from publicly posting or displaying on the Internet, or soliciting, selling, or trading on the Internet, specified personal information of a (Department of Justice Address Confidentiality) program participant with the intent of inciting another person to imminently use the information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence against, or to cause great bodily harm to, the program participant or any member of the program participant’s household.” All I can say is ‘good luck with that’. I hope it works, but I don’t know if it will.
Breaking News (of the dog-bites-man variety): The cops are holding up legislation to decriminalize marijuana. I’m sorry, it’s time to put an end to the stranglehold that these Nixon-era culture warriors have on public policy. Gee, I wonder how often these guys bail out a drunken fellow officer by covering up the offense. They seek to impose standards on others that they would never consider when it’s one of their own. They should have no special voice in this debate. I think Rep. Keeley should just bring the bill up for a vote. These guys are supposed to enforce the law, not make it. Stop negotiating with these buzz-headed hard-asses, who cares what they think, or even if they think?
I’ll catch you on the Al Show, 10-12 noon today. You can tune in right here.